From Saudi King Tries Stopping Pending Revolt With BribesKing Abdullah of Saudi Arabia returned home yesterday after spending three months in New York City and Morocco treating a major back problems. The Middle east he came home to was very different from the one he left. Just in the last monthrevolutions have swept across neighboring Yemen and Bahrain, toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, set the Libyan government against its people and are itching to get started in Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, and Iran. The King also hears the rumbling of revolution in his own realm (or he reads Facebook).

“The assumption a coalition of different elites could keep systems stable has proven not to be correct anymore,” he said.

Mustafa Alani, director of the Dubai-based private think tank Gulf Research Centre, said: “Immunity no longer exists. There is only one way to stay in power, and that is by meeting the demands of your people.”

…The king’s half-brother, Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, told BBC Arabic last week that Saudi Arabia could be harmed by the uprisings sweeping the Arab world unless it sped up reforms.

A Saudi businessman agreed yesterday: “Saudis want more from the king and his regime. They want more political and social freedom, more rights for women, better education and more job opportunities.

“The region is changing rapidly and the Saudis want to feel this change in their country, too.”

And the King did all he could to try to make his people happy and allow them to “feel change” $36 Billion dollars worth of change, giving all government employees a 15% pay raise and dramatically increasing spending on social welfare programs, housing and education:

Under new decrees, the unemployed in Saudi Arabia will get financial aid for a year, while prisoners jailed for failing to pay off loans were released and needy students attending university were told they would get more money.

Saturday was also declared a national holiday to celebrate the King’s safe return.

The King is also rumored to be carrying out a cabinet shuffle to meet the demand for younger people in the cabinet (the average age now is 65).

This is not the first time Abdullah has used some of his oil riches to protect the realm. While he is not hated the way Mubarak and Qudaffi are, it is still unclear that the latest bribe will work. Stay tuned boys and girls.

“U.S. military and intelligence officials are closely watching Libya‘s stockpiles of mustard gas and their precursor chemicals as the North African country descends further into civil war.

Proliferation analysts generally assess that Libya has close to 14 tons of mustard gas that it has not destroyed despite the announcement in 2003 that it would dismantle its weapons of mass destruction program.

‘Obviously, the security of the Libyan stockpile of chemical weapons is a concern,’ a U.S. intelligence official told The Washington Times.

‘You could see a scenario where [Libyan dictator Moammar] Gadhafi takes troops away from these [stockpiles],’ a Senate aide monitoring the situation in Libya said. ‘He could be pulling his security forces off of his missions, and bring them to Tripoli and Benghazi and other towns he needs to secure to hold on to his regime and, as a result, these facilities will be unguarded.’”

Violence in Libya escalated Monday as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in Tripoli. Eyewitness reports said that protesters had torched public buildings in the capital overnight.

One of the buildings that was set on fire was the General People’s Congress, or parliament, which meets when it is in session in the capital. (JPost)

There’s a whole slew of photos of Tripoli and the results of the damage and demonstrations over here.

The photo which caught my eye was the following graffiti message to Kadaffi:

“Message to Kadaffi: Flee to Israel, you infidel.”

The “democratic” riots sweeping the Middle East do not mean that Arabs will suddenly embrace Israel in peace. Only a fool would think so.

IDF Northern Command believes regime in Iran may initiate attack if it feels under pressure due to anti-government protests.

Tehran could activate Hezbollah forces to attack Israel along the northern border in an effort to stave off domestic pressures within Iran, according to assessments in the IDF’s Northern Command.

The concern within the army is that if the regime in Tehran feels under pressure due to anti-government demonstrations it will try to initiate an attack on an Israeli target – either overseas or near the border – to divert attention from its own troubles.

Hassan Narallah calls on ‘Islamic resistance fighters’ to ‘be ready for the day when war is forced on Lebanon’; Hezbollah leader who escaped Egyptian prison appears at rally where Nasrallah spoke.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned “Zionist officers and generals” to “watch your heads,” in response to a military tour that Israel’s defense minister took on the border with Lebanon earlier in the week.

Nasrallah spoke at a rally that was held to honor a Hezbollah leader who had escaped from an Egyptian prison during the country’s unrest, and made his way back to Beirut.

I AM SURE THAT THE PASSAGE OF THE 2 IRANIAN WARSHIPS IS A COORDINATED EFFORT AIMED AT ATTACKING ISRAEL – EITHER WITH LEBANON OR GAZA AS A FLASH-POINT. OR BOTH – AFTER ALL: THEY HAVE SENT 2 SHIPS.

Khaled Abu Toameh and Tovah Lazaroff

The Palestinian leadership, now receiving more than $2 billion in U.S. aid, wants a ‘day of rage’ against the U.S. vote

Palestinians on Saturday called for a “day of rage” this Friday to protest against the U.S. administration’s decision to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for building in the settlements.

Expressing outrage over Friday’s veto, the Palestinian Authority threatened to reassess its position on the Middle East peace process.

Israel, in contrast, welcomed the vetoand called on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

Friday’s “decision by the U.S. makes it clear that the only path to… peace will come through direct negotiations and not through the decisions of international bodies.

“We are prepared to pursue those peace negotiations vigorously and are eager to get on with the work of achieving a secure peace,” said the Prime Minister’s Office. “We hope the Palestinians will join us in that effort as soon as possible.”

Palestinians have refused to negotiate with Israel until it halts settlements activity and instead have pursued international recognition of statehood and UN resolutions on the matter, such as the one it brought before the Security Council on Friday.

As one of five permanent Security Council members with veto power, the U.S. was able to block the anti-settlement resolution even though it had the support of the 14 other members, including Britain, Germany and France.

The measure was submitted by Lebanon on behalf of the Palestinians after intensive American diplomacy failed to keep it from being considered.

Your Tax Dollars At Prayer Part 3: Ottawa has used $53,540.00 of your tax dollars to fund École Ali Ibn Abi Talib in Montreal under the SIP, Security Infrastructure Program, the purpose of which is to “Improve and enhance the safety of Canadian communities at risk of hate-motivated crime through the enhancement of their security infrastructure.”

A bit about the school: “ALI IBN ABI TALIB SCHOOL strives to preserve the culture and languages of the international Muslim community by seedling into the children a pride in their heritage. We put a great emphasis on Qur’anic teaching and a proper Islamic conduct. As well we enable children to master the Arabic language to provide access to the original sources ofIslamic knowledge.” Oooo! That’s nice and MultiCulty.

From http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/02/uber-left-hate-organization-splc-reviews-our-ground-zero-mosque-film.htmlTonight is the New York premiere of our Ground Zero mosque film at the St. Luke’s Theatre, and we are sold out. The left wing battering ram is all over the film like white on rice. It’s psychotic how desperately the left wants to see this triumphal mosque built. Check out the lengthy “review” from the uber-left tool kit, The Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC is indeed poverty-stricken, both intellectually and morally. They have a particular obsession with me and my fight for freedom and individual rights.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has kicked off its Goebbels-like propaganda campaign against me here. It is continuing its campaign against my love of freedom as ‘Hatewatch” here. I equate the Southern Poverty Law Center coming out for Islamic supremacists with them coming out for nazis. What’s the difference, and
why doesn’t the SPLC even have a category for Islamic jihadi groups? Not one. The greatest threat facing our nation, our people, our world, and they are shilling for them.

During massive rallies at Cairo’s Al-Tahrir Square, Friday prayers were led by International Union of (Radical) Muslim Scholars head Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who called for the re-conquest of Jerusalem.

Bring on those martyrs. Israel will dance on their graves.MEMRI – In a special mention of the Palestinian issue, Al-Qaradhawi asked the Egyptian army to open wide the Rafah crossing and to pray for the re-conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims, so that he and the Muslims could pray in security at Al-Aqsa Mosque. This part of his sermon was cheered and applauded by the crowd.

In a February 2010 interview with BBC Arabic, Qaradawi reaffirmedhis support for suicide bombings:

“I supported martyrdom operations. This is a necessary thing.

In an October 2010 interview with Al-Jazeera, Qaradawi was asked whether Muslims should try to acquire atomic weapons “to terrorize their enemies.” Hereplied that such an objective was permissible, saying he was “happy” that Pakistan already possessed such a weapon. According to Qaradawi, the procurement of such agents of mass destruction was in compliance with Koranic verses urging Muslims “to terrorize thereby the enemy of God and your enemy.” Also in late 2010, Qaradawi stated: “We must irrigate [the] tree of freedom with our blood. We must not leave the Palestinians alone.” Not one inch of the Land of Islam must remain in the grasp of infidels and occupiers.”

From http://olehgirl.com/?p=6664
Bahraini leaders have accused the Lebanese terrorist group Hizbullah, a Shi’ite Muslim group, of encouraging riots in their country. Officials said that Hizbullah flags were found at the Manama rally,along with weapons and ammunition.
Previously King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain warned a highly-ranked U.S. official that opposition groups in his country were being trained in Lebanon by Hezbollah, according to a American diplomatic cable exposed by WikiLeaks, The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.
Back in September several dozen Shi’ites trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon were arrested in Bahrain for plotting a coup to overthrow the Sunni regime.

If you want a look at exactly what transpired over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), you have to look no further than this CPAC panel on Saturday organized by Suhail Khan, where panelists CJ Jordan of the National Black Republican Leadership Council and another panelist, recommend outreach to the racist Nation of Islam (Louis Farrakhan) and La Raza (literally, “The Race”). This is also the same session where Suhail Khan, a board member of the American Conservative Union (which organizes CPAC), made the laughable claim that “there is no Muslim Brotherhood in the United States“.

If you would like to offer your thoughts to the board of directors of the American Conservative Union about letting Louis Farrakhan and La Raza into the Suhail Khan’s “big tent”, please contact them at the email addresses below the fold or use the contact form on their website: